After three solid outings at the Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Manssive shipped to the Commonwealth for the first time in his life and left an impression at the Ridge.
He took a lifetime mark – much to the delight of a select group of happy bettors who backed the 60-1 shot - as he took the $12,000 conditioned trotting feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon.
Manssive (Ron Cushing) took command by the :28.1 quarter before yielding the front to Muscles Jared (Truman Gale). From there a pocket trip would be the call for Cushing who took full advantage of being forwardly placed off the wings. Muscles Jared, who came off a strong winning effort last week, looked game once again as he went to the half in :57.4 before a challenge by Buff (Greg Merton), who hastened the fraction up the backside to :28.1 once again.
When the pack hit the head of the stretch, Muscles Jared had a two-length advantage and looked pretty solid. But just like that, he’d had enough and started to give way to a wall of horses coming fast. Manssive was to his left on the pylons and Buff, Nathaniel (Drew Campbell) and Boohya TJ (Nick Graffam) were fanned outside to his right. Those four horses were now a half-length ahead Muscles Jared and a mere neck apart from each other as they hit the wire with Manssive getting there first by a head in 1:56.
It was the second win of the year for Manssive ($129) who is owned by Kevin Sywyk and his driver, Ron Cushing. Heidi Gibbs does the training.
The largest win mutual of the meet also triggered stout exotics. The 4-1 Exacta returned $280.40 and the 4-1-5 Trifecta paid $1,529.40 in the short six-horse field. It also prompted a 4-1 Late Double that paid $815.80. All payoffs were for two-dollar wagers.
In the co-featured $12,000 conditioned trot, Candy Lane (Drew Campbell) scored her first victory of the year as she trotted wire to wire in a five-length, 1:56.2 romp. Candy Lane ($6.20) is owned by Linwood Higgins and trained by James Dunn.
Shawn Gray scored three driving wins on Thursday's card while Mike Hitchcock bagged a training double.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Monday with post time at 4 p.m. Please note that the racing schedule also changes at Plainridge next week as racing goes to four days a week with the addition of Friday starting on May 4.
(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)